UK: Tesco shareholders vote against auditing resolution

A majority of shareholders at UK retailer Tesco decided to vote against a resolution for independent auditing of its clothing factories on Friday (29 June).

The resolution was put forward by shareholder Ben Birnberg, company secretary for the anti-poverty charity War on Want, which claims the supermarket sources clothes from Bangladeshi factories where clothes workers are paid five pence an hour.

War on Want said that 9.3% of shareholders voted for a resolution at Friday's AGM, which demanded supplier factories undergo independent auditing to ensure "decent pay and conditions for employees".

Shareholders including the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust - which holds close to a million shares - supported the resolution.

Birnberg said: "The unprecedented level of shareholders who voted for the resolution or withheld backing for Tesco sends a clear signal that people want decent pay and conditions for workers in the supply chain."

One year after exposing what it described as "sweatshop" conditions in factories producing clothes for leading UK retailers, the charity War on Want claims workers in Bangladesh are still paid just GB...

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